Animal I Have Become
by I Want It Painted Black
Summary: An ending I came up with after reading the 11th Volume 'Lord of the Shadows', A oneshot, and Rated M for extreme violence. Do enjoy.


**Yeah, this FF is nothing special at all ; just something I made at Two A.M. after hearing "Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace, and because the song inspired it, I had to make it my first song fic. In all honesty I don't really care for this fic- it was just something I made in a few hours to help my boredom and thirst for gore ; BUT I am posting it anyway since I bothered to actually finish, I AM POSTING THIS FREAKER D **

**Also, so I wouldn't get _TOO_ much flamage, I tried to tie in some plot... poorly. **

**I guess in a way, this is what I imagined Darren doing after the 11th volume- completely unlikely, I know, but as I said, I made this at _Two A.M._, from what I hear, people tend to get a little... weird around that time x3 What? **

**Speaking of which, this fic DOES contain a lot of gore… or at least an attempt at it, sooo… yeah, if you're not fond of that, TURN BACK NOW.**

**You were warned…**

**------- **

I Should have hesitated, I should have dropped the blade and let go of the boy on the spot. I normally would have, I would have gapped at where Steve used to stand just barely seconds before he revealed that twisted, confusing secret. Questions would have raced through my mind, I would have tried to piece this disturbing puzzle together in vein while those behind me would all do about the same. We would all wonder how _Steve_ _Leonard_-- A.k.a. my Ex best friend, current mortal enemy and vital kill target-- And _Annie Shan_-- A.k.a. MY SISTER-- Could make Darius Shan-- _MY NEPHEW_!

_**I can't escape this hell **_

**_So many times I've tried_**

But that didn't happen. Maybe if that dark flare of hate hadn't been there, it would have, but it was there. I was in a world beyond even the darkest pits of that alternate future we were destined to have. Instead of feeling shock, or even suprised, I felt an odd, twisted sense of curiosity.

**_But I'm still caged inside_**

I turned the boy around, keeping my blade firmly to his neck, and gazed down at his features. Examining him, taking in each and every detail of his face, skin tone, the color of his horror-filled eyes-- and sure enough, it was there. My sister and The Vampeneze Lord genetically bound together inside this young child. Yet again, I found myself completely unfazed... in fact, I found it strangely humorous. Steve and Annie... Who knew! Who ever would have guessed! Though, despite this strange twist, my thoughts on this child didn't change, I still wanted with now every fiber of my being to kill him, and I was going to. Child of Annie, or not. Nephew of mine, or not, this boy was going to die tonight.

"Darren...?" I heard a meek voice from behind, and I was knocked out of my thoughts to find that I was laughing-- rather loudly, too. Maniacally. I turned my head to the location of the voice to find the dark face of Debbie, staring at me with eyes filled with a mix of emotions-- shock, worry, fear, sadness, all of it could be seen in those soft, brown orbs. "Darren... are you alright?"

**_Somebody get me through this nightmare_**

Laughter erupted from my throat again, so loud I thought my ears would explode-- Or perhaps that was just the affects of the purge.-- This was probably the most humorous day I've had in years, of all the things she could have asked in this situation, she picked on 'Are you alright?' After my laughter finally died down, I grinned widely at her "Never been better!" I called back in the most dark, malicious tone my vocal cords had ever conceived.

**_I can't control myself_**

I turned my attention back to Darius who was looking at me like I was something that jumped out of a horror movie-- And to him, I probably was-- And with lightning-fast reflexes, I raised my dagger and drove it into his flesh.

_**So what if you can see the darkest side of me? **_

**_No one would ever change this animal I have become_**

Screams and curses erupted from behind me, all so loud that my eardrums did, in fact, pop a bit, yet the pain went unnoticed as blood splashed from the wound and Darius's mouth. Crimson liquid dripped onto my palms, and it felt wonderful. Every part of it, the feeling, the sent, the warmth... I wanted more.

_**Help me believe it's not the real me **_

_**Somebody help me tame this animal **_

**_(This animal, this animal)_**

It was like I was now a completely different person, I killed a vampaneze once before, and back then, I felt awful and disgusted with myself. But this-- _THIS_ feeling was the most pleasure I had felt in a long time! I pulled the dagger out and plunged it back into the trembling boy, this time twisting the dagger slowly, gleefully savoring every grunt and cry of pain Darius made before finally dragging it just slightly from his chest to his stomach.

_**I can't escape myself **_

**_(I can't escape myself)_**

Darius threw his head back and screamed in horrific agony, painful tears falling down his pale face as he coughed a few times, then finally began to vomit. People behind me screamed, and pleaded for me to stop, but strangely, no one actually attempted to stop me. Were they afraid? Were they finally accepting that this was how things were gonna be? Had they given up hope but made weak efforts to make me falter me vicious acts anyway? Had Evonna at some point told them not to but in? Whatever the reason was, I didn't care, it would only prolong my desires to send this boy through a hell even beyond his imagination.****

_**So many times I've lied **_

**_(So many times I've lied)_**

The boy was trembling so hard now, it was actually becoming a challenge to keep a firm grip on the crying brat, this actually struck an irritated chord within me and I found myself twisting the dagger, then dragging it in a completely different direction across his torso. "Hold still!" I spat viscously as more blood began pouring from his throat onto my already drenched hands and arms. Again, it felt delightful, but I was too angry to enjoy it. I was going to make this kid hold still and take this punishment. This punishment for the mere fact that he was even _born_, even if it was from my own sisters womb, I didn't care. Infect, I suddenly had a good mind to kill her after all of this, too.

**_But there's still rage inside_**

Suddenly, a particularly loud noise exploded through the building, and I felt a deadly pain hit me in the shoulder, and just like that, I dropped the boy-- Though some how, still held the knife tightly as it slid out of him-- and clenched my bleeding shoulder. It took a moment, but my mind finally processed the fact that I had been shot, and by not an arrow-- but a bullet. It was deep in, obviously, but not in a place to make me bleed as Steve's arrows had. I whipped around, completely discarding my trembling, dying nephew as my enraged eyes met with the wielder of the gun-- Alice Burgess.

**_Somebody get me through this nightmare_**

I think she intended to shoot me directly in the back and end me-- she was sobbing hard and trembling in a manner very comparable to my nephew-- or maybe she was still going by the prophesy and just intended to get my attention, either way, I didn't care. She interrupted my revenge and now she would pay.

**_I can't control myself_**

"Darren!" She screamed hysterically as I slowly advanced on her, now completely ignoring the pain in my shoulder as I kept my focus on her "Darren, Wha- WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!" Once more the words processed into my dark world as humor, though instead of bursting into laughter I only gave a light smirk this time. The ex Police officer held her once discarded gun up higher, aiming directly at my forehead, obviously threatening that if I got any closer, she'd shoot.

**_So what if you can see the darkest side of me?_**

She shouldn't have even done that much-- she should have dropped all feeling she had toward me as a friend and comrade and shot me dead with no warning. I wouldn't have been fast enough to dodge the bullet, for those precious moments, I was an easy target, and she had all the power in the world to end me before I could do any more damage. She should have forgot the prophesy of me being only Steve's kill, and just shot. But the thing is, she didn't, and that's what led to her own down fall.

In the blink of an eye, I was in front of her-- I had not flitted, but I all of a suddenly felt a vast amount of energy raise inside of me, and I was eager to use this affect of the purge to its full extent-- and I attacked. I can't give any details the way I can for Darius, my attack on Alice was a complete blur-- literally. I had been moving so fast, I don't know if I was even going by sight anymore, but the next thing I knew, Alice was lying on the ground, breathing heavily, and only twitching slightly before finally becoming limp. Blood was pouring from various amounts of deep cuts, slices, and stabs wounds inflicted by my dagger in her torso.

**_No one would ever change this animal I have become_**

I smirked again, every shred in my being totally satisfied with my 'discipline'. I then turned my gaze to the others, a sudden curiosity for their reactions brewing inside me, after all- none of them had said or done _anything_ while I was slaughtering Alice- and it was just as I had suspected.

**_Help me believe it's not the real me_**

All faces --with the exception of Evonna, who of course held her completely calm expression as she did when Shancus was murdered-- held complete and utter terror. Even Evan had stopped his wrestling with Harkat, and was staring at me with the Little Person, his yellow reptilian eyes wide and full of disbelief. Vancha seemed to be completely frozen by my actions, his chest didn't even raise or lower to show breathing! For once I saw the wild Vampire princess in a state of utter helplessness, and it was entertaining! The only face that wasn't frozen or bulging eyes was Debbie, who's reaction amused me the most. Her hands were pressed against her cheeks, which also had fat tears streaming down it, her mouth wide open, but no sound came out. It was strange, I was just trying to murder a young boy and all she did was yell, but now I killed an older woman, and she looked like something that popped out of an 1800's silent film.

"D-... D-... Darren!" She finally choked out, breaking her silent act. All I did in response was continue to watch her, that smirk of saticefaction planted firmly on my lips. "Darren... Why! Th- Th- This isn't you!" She cried out brokenly. "Murdering little boys.. killing your own friends... Y- you wouldn't do this!"****

**_Somebody help me tame this animal I have become_**

"I just did." was my only dark response, along with a small chuckle. "Darren..." came another voice, though it's tone wasn't much different than that of Debbie's. I turned my attention to the Little Person, his large green eyes now softened to utter weakness and helplessness, as if he'd, unlike Debbie, lost all hope for me-- which was wise. "It's true.. you're not like this... you're not a--"

"Monster?" I interrupted, again in that same amused tone "Freak? Savage? Barbarian? ... Animal?" I couldn't stop myself from grinning at that last word. Before, I would have been angered deeply at ever receiving such an insult, but some how, I loved the way it suited me. I was an animal, I could tell that now. In a way, the purge wasn't just destroying my genetic humanity, it was taking every last fiber of humanity out of my being, to where I would become a true creature of the night, to where I could in no way fit under the definition 'human' ever again.

**_Help me believe it's not the real me_**

Harkat never answered me, perhaps there _was_ just a strain of hope in him before I spoke, hence his butting in, but what ever there was before was now, truly broken. I knew well what I was doing, the crimes I was committing not just against society, but my own friends. The thing that made me an animal, that made me inhuman, was that I no longer cared. Every shred of the vampiric morality I once held so strongly was now gone.

**_Somebody help me through this nightmare_**

I finally turned my attention back to Darius, who was now slowly crawling across the floor, leaving a long trail of blood as he pathetically attempted to get away. He wasn't even using both hands to help him move across the wooden floor, as one was desperately clutching his stomach, I could see why, too. By the way I had cut him, it would be no suprise that innards would be starting to spill out. It also struck me as no suprise that the child was even alive- after all, he was deemed to indeed be part vampaneze. He very well should have been able to take _much_ more than the average human-- However, there was absolutely no doubt that he could still die. His Vampeneze side would only lengthen his punishment-- something I had no problem with.

**_Somebody wake me from this nightmare_**

I walked back toward the boy, kicking him roughly in the side so he would roll over and face me again, his once so innocent eyes again filled with terror at the very sight of me. My wicked smile widening, I kneeled down, holding Darius down by the chest with one foot as I lowered myself to the floor. I then gazed down at the wound his arm covered so protectively, and grinned sadisticly.

**_I can't escape this animal_**

I pried his arm away, holding it by the wrist firmly above his head along with his other. I then trailed my eyes to look at the long wound on his chest and belly-- it appeared I hadn't been as precise with my carving as I thought. I at first thought I had made a precise L on his torso, but no, this L was incredibly crooked and actually resembled a check mark more than anything. However, one thing I had suspected was true-- by the odd formations on his stomach, it showed my slices had been so deep that he in fact _was _starting to spill, and that's where the twisted, malicious idea began.

**_This animal_**

I had seen gory things before, hands and arms being bitten off, people being run through the stomach, stabbed in the eye, all that jazz. But... I had never actually seen the internal organs of a 'human' live, and suddenly, I felt curious.

**_This animal_**

With another twisted chuckle, I reached down the boy's bare, blood-covered chest to his belly, stopping just at the corner of the bloody 'checkmark', resting my thumb just barely on the inside of the cut, my index finger only an inch in front of it, resting idly on the flesh. Darius whimpered pathetically, gazing up at me with swollen, red eyes and mumbled in a broken tone "U- Uncle..." Whether he meant uncle as in 'Uncle Darren' or 'I give up!' I didn't know or care. Pinching the flesh firmly between my thumb and index finger, I paused only for a moment, then in one forceful yank, I ripped the flesh off my nephew's torso like paper.

**_This animal_**

High-pitched screams and cries of torture filled the air, I even heard a few gasps and whimpers from behind me, yet again, any body who wished to stop me failed to act. I looked down at the wide open wound in utter curiosity, moving my gaze slowly along each organ, even bothering to count the few ribs I could see. It was fascinating, seeing the human anatomy like this-- but some how... it wasn't enough. I couldn't just look with my eyes...

**_This animal_**

Another pained cry filled the air as I dug my hand inside the wound, not at all bothering to handle anything with care, after all, this was supposed to be punishment. Darius again began wrenching, though this time nothing much came out-- mostly bile-- but I took little notice. There was something very intriguing about seeing the innards of something while it was living, also in a way, oddly forbidden. Like I was not supposed to see or touch the moist, internal organs of anything other than an animal-- even if the child was _dead_, I felt I wasn't allowed this, and that only made me want to explore even more, as if I myself was a child again, and I was strictly being told not to do something.

**_This animal_**

"Oops..." I chuckled darkly as I held up the shapeless innard I had accidentally detached in my exploration, turning it over in my hand, gently touching it's smooth, wet surface, even feeling the tiny pulse inside it as it slowly began to cease function. My nephew only let out a pained groan this time as he sighted the unknown clump of tissue-- as if he was either bored or growing too tired to feel much more pain- which irritated me immensely. This was supposed to be _punishment!_ You don't grow tired or bored from that! ... But alas, I could understand. He was dying, his nervous system was shutting down, his heartbeat was steadily growing slower and there was very little that could be done about that. All fun always had to come to an end. Always.

**_This animal_**

With a disappointed frown, I reached for my dagger, which I had discarded moments before, and held it high above the mutilated child, and for a moment, in his pained, tear-filled eyes, next to the terror and sorrow, I saw a spark of what seemed to be relief. Once again, I found myself smirking at this sight- it showed I had done my job. That I indeed did put the son of Steve Leonard through the worst hell imaginable-- to the point where death was not something to be feared, but to be embraced as a place of relief. With that final thought in mind, I brought the dagger down so hard into my nephew's heart, I swear to this day I felt it break through his spine and go through the wooden floor.

**_This animal_**

_**So what if you can see the darkest side of me? **_

**_No one will ever change this animal I have become_**

When I finally got to my feet, I turned to look at the others. Expressions of horror and disgust were met with twisted satisfaction. However, my attention wasn't particularly of them, but rather, the one who of course, looked neither terrified nor disgusted-- Evonna. Still standing there with a calm expression as ever, now seeming to lack emotion all together. Perhaps the grotesque scene really had affected her in someway. I smirked wickedly at the witch, I had to admit now, her prophesy was indeed true. Four people had died this night-- Shancus Von, Darius Shan, Alice Burgess, and Darren Shan. And those four would only be the beginning in a long line of tragedies after that night.

_**Help me believe it's not the real me **_

**_Somebody help me tame this animal I have become_**

While I wanted to elude it before with all my heart and soul, I now found myself completely unwilling to resist the urge to kill more. Not for any particular reason this time either, just to spill more blood, to cause more pain and hate, I just over all wanted more and I had every intuition of getting more. With that, I turned my attention to Vancha who still seemed to be petrified on the spot.

_**Help me believe it's not the real me **_

_**Somebody help me tame this animal **_

_**(This animal I have become) **_

And in the blink of an eye I was in front of him, attacking him in the same manner I had Alice and soon fulfilling his share of the prophesy of the Lord Of The Shadows.

**----- **

**I know, I know, Half the shit I put in here probably wasn't correct to the plot or characters.. or even anatomy oO; Can't blame me for trying... Ok so I didn't try! STILL! Two A.M.! xD Hope someone out there might have enjoyed this... even a little x3 Show the murderous Darren LURVE!**


End file.
